Patricia

Thank you, Bebekat. I just finished reading your New Years eve post. We also had a New Years routine for years - my husband was a musician and always played music on New Year's eve. I would go up to the bandstand at midnight and we would hug and welcome the new year with a kiss. Now, like you and everyone who replied to you post, I too sit alone, cry, and talk to him. I had my favorite picture of him enlarged to 16x20. It hangs in the den where I spend most of my time, and in that way I can talk to him, smile, and dance with him, and everything that if people could see me would call me crazy. (I don't care). Yes, I can identify with your feelings about the healthcare industry. We work together, and I share most of them with you. Stupidly I believed everything the doctors said to us. Why couldn't they just be honest and human instead of reciting their litanies. Please stay in school and finish your classes. We need to be able to trust those who will take care of us when we are so vunerable and dependent on doctors and nurses. If you take a minute to really look at the interaction between patient and staff, you could see that most patients know and recognize the ones who really do care. It has to be difficult to remain a nurse for any length of time and not become emotionally drained. Maybe that is why a lot of healthcare personnel seem so indifferent. Too bad because we are all brothers and sisters and deserve to be treated with kindness, caring, and dignity. I will ALWAYS remember the nurse who took care of Bobby on one of his hospital stays who truly cared about HIM as a person and not as "the colon cancer in room 6T30". She was our angel who made the days less fearful and sad. Please take heart that we all are struggling together and you are not alone. This website is a great place to put out your thoughts and then see that others are having the same feelings. God bless, Patricia

It has been almost six years since my dear husband passed away. He has been on my mind continuously for the past week or so, day and night. I wonder why, and thought it might help me to write a little about him here. My Bobby was everything to me. We spent 27 years together; the best, most wonderful years of my life. I never knew life could be so much fun until I lived it with him at my side. Then in 1999 he became ill. He lived for one year to the date after he was diagnosed with cancer, and throughout that year of 3 surgeries, 4 hospitalizations, radiation and chemotherapy, he always had a smile and the most upbeat attitude for everyone. Today I am missing him as much as I did when I lost him almost 6 years ago. He was my husband, my best friend, and my hero. I'm so grateful for the circumstances that brought us together, and for knowing that one day I will be with my Bobby again. That is what gets me through those lonely, tearful, sad days, and I just thought maybe it might help someone else too.